Network management apparatus and method

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims priority from Korean Patent Application No. 10-2004-0089896 filed on Nov. 5, 2004 in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a network management apparatus and method, and more particularly, to a network management apparatus and method, which can easily manage devices that are dynamically added to a network and yet maintain an existing network management structure.

2. Description of the Related Art

The advance of indoor controlling technology along with the ever-growing public attention on home networks has led to the development of an increasing number of home network control techniques. In line with the development of home network control techniques, there is a rapidly increasing demand for efficiently managing devices connected to a home network, e.g., monitoring states of the devices or determining performances of the devices.

In general, Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP), which is widely used for managing a network, allows a network manager to analyze a device to be managed and to take appropriate measures to handle the device to be managed by accessing a management information base (MIB) of the device to be managed and varying settings regarding the MIB. Here, the MIB is a database of a collection of information entities regarding the device to be managed, and the information entities are referred to as objects. The MIB is embodied as a hierarchical tree structure of the objects.

<figref idrefs="DRAWINGS">FIG. 1</figref> is a block diagram of a conventional network management apparatus.

Referring to <figref idrefs="DRAWINGS">FIG. 1</figref>, the network management apparatus includes an agent <b>20</b> installed in a device to be managed and processing a plurality of pieces of information created or updated by the device as MIB objects, and a manager <b>10</b> installed in a device for managing the device to be managed, providing an interface via which an administrator can examine the state of a network, analyzing the device to be managed, and taking appropriate measures to handle the device to be managed according to the analysis results.

The manager <b>10</b> may obtain MIB objects regarding the state and operation time of the device to be managed through an operation ‘get’ or ‘getNext’. Particularly, due to the hierarchical tree structure, the operation ‘getNext’ is used in obtaining a lower-level MIB object of a pertinent MIB object. The manager <b>10</b> may manipulate the objects of the MIB of the device to be managed through an operation ‘set’, thereby controlling the device to be managed.

The agent <b>20</b> performs an operation ‘trap’ to respond to the operation ‘get’, ‘getNext’ or ‘set performed by the manager <b>10</b> or to notify the manager <b>10</b> of extraordinary circumstances occurring to the device to be managed, such as malfunction or breakdown of the device to be managed.

<figref idrefs="DRAWINGS">FIG. 2</figref> is a diagram illustrating the structure of a typical MIB.

Referring to <figref idrefs="DRAWINGS">FIG. 2</figref>, an MIB includes a plurality of objects <b>31</b> (i.e., objects ‘iso’, ‘org’, and ‘dod’, ‘internet’, and etc) and a plurality of object instances <b>32</b> (i.e., ‘1’, ‘3’, ‘6’, ‘1’, and etc).

An administrator may issue a request for a predetermined object of the MIB to an agent <b>20</b> of a device to be managed or may set the predetermined object to a predetermined value by using a manager <b>20</b>. The administrator may access the predetermined object according to an object identifier (OID) mapped to the predetermined object. An OID may be comprised of a string of a plurality of object instances, as illustrated in <figref idrefs="DRAWINGS">FIG. 2</figref>. For example, if the administrator attempts to access, for example, the object ‘internet’, the administrator may have to reference an OID (1.3.6.1) comprised of object instances ‘1’, ‘3’, ‘6’, and ‘1’.

MIB objects are classified as standard MIB objects and extended MIB objects. Standard MIB objects are MIB objects that can be applied in common to various types of devices, while extended MIB objects are device-specific MIB objects assigned by a manufacturer at the manufacturing time of the device. MIB objects are given different OIDs from one another. Each manufacturer may extend an existing MIB by creating MIB objects for various devices under an object ‘enterprise’ of the existing MIB according to the types and the purposes of use of the devices and assigning different OIDs to the created MIB objects. Extended MIB objects, which are enterprise-specific and device-specific, are prescribed and published by the Internet Assigned Number Authority.

Standard MIB objects are MIB objects that can be applied in common to various devices. Thus, it is relatively easy to manage standard MIB objects. However, when devices having their own MIBs are connected to a network, it is difficult to change an OID system used in an existing MIB to reflect changes made to the existing MIB due to the connection of the devices to the existing MIB because the MIBs of the devices have different structures.

In addition, the requirements to standardize MIBs of a plurality of devices in a network and to manage an entire OID system in the network make it difficult to manage a dynamic network, such as a home network including a considerable number of devices of various types.

Therefore, it is necessary to develop a network management method or apparatus which can make MIBs of devices added dynamically to a network accessible while maintaining the management of the network.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open Gazette No. 1999-205320 discloses a network management method in which an agent operates on a single virtual device supporting an entire MIB and responds to a request for access to an MIB issued by an SNMP manager. In this method, however, it is difficult to manage devices connected dynamically to a network.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a network management apparatus and method which can enable an MIB of a device to be managed to be easily accessible by dynamically extending an existing MIB when the device to be managed has been connected to the network.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a network management apparatus including a device connection management unit determining whether to extend a predetermined MIB according to an OID of a device connected to a network, and a virtual MIB connection unit creating an object ‘virtual’ in the predetermined MIB according to the determination results provided by the device connection management unit, creating a virtual object for the device under the object ‘virtual’, assigning a serial number to the virtual object for the device according to a time in which the device has been connected to the network, and redefining the OID of the device according to the serial number.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a network management apparatus including an MIB management unit creating an MIB for a device and defines an OID for the MIB, and a control unit transmitting the OID to a device for managing a network when the device has been connected to the network.

According to still another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a network management method including determining whether to extend a predetermined MIB according to an OID for an MIB of a device, creating an object ‘virtual’ in the predetermined MIB according to the determination results, creating a virtual object for the device under the object ‘virtual’, and assigning a serial number to the virtual object for the device according to a time in which the device has been connected to a network, and redefining the OID of the device according to the serial number.

According to a further aspect of the present invention, there is provided a network management method including creating an MIB for a device and defining an OID for the MIB, and transmitting the OID to a device for managing a network when the device has been connected to the network.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other aspects of the present invention will become more apparent by describing in detail exemplary embodiments thereof with reference to the attached drawings in which:

<figref idrefs="DRAWINGS">FIG. 1</figref> is a block diagram of a conventional network management apparatus;

<figref idrefs="DRAWINGS">FIG. 2</figref> is a diagram illustrating the structure of a typical management information base (MIB);

<figref idrefs="DRAWINGS">FIG. 3</figref> is a block diagram of a network management apparatus according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

<figref idrefs="DRAWINGS">FIG. 4</figref> is a diagram illustrating the structure of an MIB including an object ‘virtual’ according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

<figref idrefs="DRAWINGS">FIG. 5</figref> is a diagram illustrating a plurality of consecutive serial numbers assigned to a plurality of virtual objects created for devices to be managed under an object ‘virtual’ of an MIB and OID root values of the devices, the OID replaced with the serial numbers according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

<figref idrefs="DRAWINGS">FIG. 6</figref> is a flowchart illustrating a method of creating an MIB for a device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention; and

<figref idrefs="DRAWINGS">FIG. 7</figref> is a flowchart illustrating a method of dynamically extending an MIB for a device connected to a network according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

The present invention will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which exemplary embodiments of this invention are shown. Advantages and features of the present invention and methods of accomplishing the same may be understood more readily by reference to the following detailed description of exemplary embodiments and the accompanying drawings. The present invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as being limited to the exemplary embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these exemplary embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete and will fully convey the concept of the invention to those skilled in the art, and the present invention will only be defined by the appended claims. Like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout the specification.

<figref idrefs="DRAWINGS">FIG. 3</figref> is a block diagram of a network management apparatus according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to <figref idrefs="DRAWINGS">FIG. 3</figref>, the apparatus includes a manager <b>100</b> and an agent <b>200</b>. The manager <b>100</b> determines whether to extend an MIB of a pertinent device to be managed to an MIB object virtually created according to an OID root value of the device. The agent <b>200</b> is installed in the device to be managed and sets the root of the OID of the device to a predefined value.

In general, an MIB object of the device to be managed can be accessed via a predefined OID assigned to the device to be managed. In general, the OID of the device to be managed is determined by the manufacturer. Therefore, devices of the same type may be assigned different OIDs if they are not manufactured by the same manufacturer, and devices of different types may also be assigned different OIDs even if they are manufactured by the same manufacturer. Thus, it is necessary to prevent the device to be managed from sharing the same OID with other devices by assigning an OID to the device to be managed according to OIDs assigned to the other devices.

In the present exemplary embodiment, OIDs to be assigned to different devices are created so that their roots are set to a predefined value. For this, the manager <b>100</b> creates an object ‘virtual’ under an object ‘private’ of the existing MIB, creates a plurality of virtual objects under the object ‘virtual’ for a plurality of devices when the devices are connected to a network, and sequentially assigns a plurality of consecutive serial numbers to the virtual objects according to the order in which the devices are connected to the network. Then, OID root values of the devices are replaced with the serial numbers assigned to the virtual objects corresponding to the devices by the manager <b>100</b>, and the manager <b>100</b> can recreate OIDs of the devices according to the replacement results.

Therefore, in the present exemplary embodiment, even when a plurality of devices to be managed use the same OID system, it is possible to differentiate the devices from one another according to a plurality of serial numbers assigned to the devices by the manager <b>100</b>. Thus, when creating OIDs for MIBs of the devices, there is no need to determine whether the OIDs conflict with one another.

The agent <b>200</b> includes an MIB management unit <b>210</b> creating an MIB for the device to be managed and creates an OID for the MIB of the device to be managed, a control unit <b>220</b> transmitting a response message to the manager <b>100</b> when there is a call from the manager <b>100</b>, and an MIB processing unit <b>230</b> processing managing changes to the MIB of the device to be managed under the control of the control unit <b>220</b>.

The MIB management unit <b>210</b> may set an OID root of the device to be managed to a predefined value that can be commonly used as OID root values of other devices. In the present exemplary embodiment, the MIB management unit <b>210</b> sets to ‘1’ the root of the OID of the device to be managed. However, the MIB management unit <b>210</b> may also set the root of the OID of the device to be managed to a value other than 1 depending on network configurations. Further to the root value of 1, the MIB management unit <b>210</b> may also assign lower-level values of the root value sequentially in a predetermined order, the lower-level values defining the remaining digits of the OID of the device.

In other words, the MIB management unit <b>210</b> may sequentially assign serial numbers starting from ‘1’ for various layers.

The MIB created by the MIB management unit <b>210</b> may have a hierarchical tree structure illustrated in <figref idrefs="DRAWINGS">FIG. 2</figref>, and each of a plurality of objects of the MIB may include OID information, name information, description information, data type information, and object value information. Here, OID information specifies an OID of an MIB object, name information specifies the name of the MIB object, description information specifies functions provided by the MIB object, data type information specifies the data type of the MIB object (for example, if the MIB object has another MIB object as its child node, the data type information specifies that the MIB object is a node, and otherwise, the data type information specifies that the MIB object is a leaf), and the object value information specifies the value of the MIB object.

The control unit <b>220</b> performs a predetermined function in response to the manager <b>100</b>'s call and transmits/receives messages required for changing or updating the value of a predetermined MIB object to/from the manager <b>100</b>. In addition, if the device to be managed has been newly connected to the network, the control unit <b>220</b> may communicate with the manager <b>100</b> in a broadcast or multicast manner, thereby notifying the manager <b>100</b> that the device to be managed has been connected to the network. In this case, the control unit <b>220</b> transmits the OID root value of the device to be managed to the manager <b>100</b>.

If the manager <b>100</b> does not have the function to assign a serial number to a virtual object created for the device to be managed according to the OID root value of the device to be managed and to replace the OID root value of the device to be managed with the serial number, the control unit <b>220</b> may add an Internet Protocol (IP) address of the device to be managed to the OID root value of the device to be managed and then transmit the addition result to the manager <b>100</b>. In this case, the manager <b>100</b> can identify the device to be managed according to the IP address included in the addition result transmitted by the control unit <b>220</b> of the agent <b>200</b>.

For example, if the IP address of the device to be managed is ‘www.xxx.yyy.zzz’ and the OID of the device to be managed is ‘1.2.3.4’, the control unit <b>220</b> may add ‘www.xxx.yyy.zzz’ and ‘1.2.3.4’ and transmit the addition result, i.e., ‘www.xxx.yyy.zzz.1.2.3.4’, to the manager <b>100</b>.

If the value of an object of the MIB of the device to be managed is altered or updated, the MIB processing unit <b>230</b> may process and manage the alteration or updating result. In other words, if a request for a predetermined MIB object is issued by the manager <b>100</b>, the MIB processing unit <b>230</b> may return the value of the predetermined MIB object to the manager <b>100</b> and may alter or update the value of the predetermined MIB object upon the request of the manager <b>100</b>.

The manager <b>100</b> includes a device connection management unit <b>110</b> determining whether the device to be managed has been newly connected to the network and determining whether to extend an MIB depending on the device that has been newly connected to the network, an MIB extraction unit <b>120</b> extracting the MIB of the device to be managed, an MIB interpretation unit <b>130</b> determining whether the MIB of the device to be managed is valid, a virtual MIB connection unit <b>140</b> extending the existing MIB by attaching the MIB of the device to be managed under the object ‘virtual’ of the existing MIB according to the determination results provided by the device connection management unit <b>110</b>, and an MIB information management unit <b>150</b> managing the extended MIB.

The device connection management unit <b>110</b> manages a list of devices connected to the network and may transmit a response message to the agent <b>200</b> in response to a management search message that is transmitted by the agent <b>200</b> to search for the manager <b>100</b>. The device connection management unit <b>110</b> may control the virtual MIB connection unit <b>140</b> to sequentially assign a plurality of consecutive serial numbers to a plurality of devices when the devices are connected to the network. In detail, when the device to be managed has been newly connected to the network, the control unit <b>220</b> of the device to be managed announces that the device to be managed has been connected to the network and then transmits the OID root value of the device to be managed to the manager <b>100</b>. If the OID root value of the device to be managed to the manager <b>100</b> is the same as a predefined value, the device connection management unit <b>110</b> controls the virtual MIB connection unit <b>140</b> to assign a serial number to a virtual object corresponding to the device to be managed and replace the OID root value of the device to be managed with the serial number assigned to the virtual object corresponding to the device to be managed, thereby extending the existing MIB.

However, if the existing MIB cannot be extended according to the OID root value of the device to be managed, the control unit <b>220</b> of the device to be managed may add the IP address of the device to be managed to the OID root value of the device to be managed and then transmit the addition result to the manager <b>100</b>. Thus, the device connection management unit <b>110</b> can identify the device to be managed by the IP address included in the addition result transmitted by the control unit <b>220</b> of the device to be managed.

The MIB extraction unit <b>120</b> extracts the MIB of the device to be managed from the MIB management unit <b>210</b> of the device to be managed, and the MIB interpretation unit <b>130</b> determines whether the MIB of the device to be managed is valid. For example, the MIB interpretation unit <b>130</b> may determine whether each of the objects of the MIB of the device to be managed is valid or not according to presence or absence of values corresponding to data type information, name information, and description information of each of the objects of the MIB and the OID of the device to be managed.

The virtual MIB connection unit <b>140</b> creates an object ‘virtual’ in the existing MIB.

Thereafter, if the device connection management unit <b>110</b> determines that the device to be managed has been connected to the network, a virtual object corresponding to the device to be managed may be created under the object ‘virtual’, and the device connection management unit <b>110</b> may control the virtual MIB connection unit <b>140</b> to assign serial numbers to virtual objects according to a connection order in which devices to be managed are connected to the network.

For example, if there are devices newly connected to the network, the device connection management unit <b>110</b> may control the virtual MIB connection unit <b>140</b> to create the object ‘virtual’ under an object ‘private’ of the existing MIB, create a plurality of virtual objects for the respective devices under the object ‘virtual’, sequentially assign a plurality of consecutive serial numbers of, for example, 1, 2, 3, . . . , to the virtual objects according to the order in which the devices are connected to the network, and replace OID root values of the devices with the serial numbers.

In detail, if there are devices newly connected to the network, the virtual MIB connection unit <b>140</b> creates an object ‘virtual’ (<b>300</b>) under an object ‘private’ of the MIB of <figref idrefs="DRAWINGS">FIG. 2</figref>, as illustrated in <figref idrefs="DRAWINGS">FIG. 5</figref>.

Assuming that the devices newly connected to the network are devices A (<b>310</b>), B (<b>320</b>), and C (<b>330</b>), the virtual MIB connection unit <b>140</b> creates virtual objects for the devices A (<b>310</b>), B (<b>320</b>), and C (<b>330</b>) under the object ‘virtual’ (<b>300</b>) and assign serial numbers of 1, 2, and 3 to the virtual objects. Thereafter, the virtual MIB connection unit <b>140</b> may replace OID root values of the devices A (<b>310</b>), B (<b>320</b>), and C (<b>330</b>) with the serial numbers assigned to the virtual objects corresponding to the devices A (<b>310</b>), B (<b>320</b>), and C (<b>330</b>).

Accordingly, an OID of the device A (<b>310</b>) is changed from ‘1.3.1’ to ‘1.3.6.1.4.10.1.3.1’, an OID of the device B (<b>320</b>) is changed from ‘1.1.2.’ to ‘1.3.6.1.4.10.2.1.2’, and an OID of the device C (<b>330</b>) is changed from ‘11.2.1.1.2’ to ‘1.3.6.1.4.10.3.2.1.1.2’. The OIDs of the devices A (<b>310</b>), B (<b>320</b>), and C (<b>330</b>) have ‘1.3.6.1.4.10’ in common, and the remaining portions of the OIDs of the devices A (<b>310</b>), B (<b>320</b>), and C (<b>330</b>) may be assigned by the virtual MIB connection unit <b>140</b>. The root value (i.e., a value of 1) of the original OID (1.3.1) of the device A (<b>310</b>) is replaced with the serial number (i.e., a value of 1) assigned to the virtual object corresponding to the device A (<b>310</b>) by the virtual MIB connection unit <b>140</b>, the root value (i.e., a value of 1) of the original OID (1.1.2) of the device B (<b>320</b>) is replaced with the serial number (i.e., a value of 2) assigned to the virtual object corresponding to the device B (<b>320</b>) by the virtual MIB connection unit <b>140</b>, and the root value (i.e., a value of 1) of the original OID (1.2.1.1.2) of the device C (<b>330</b>) is replaced with the serial number (i.e., a value of 3) assigned to the virtual object corresponding to the device A (<b>310</b>) by the virtual MIB connection unit <b>140</b>. Therefore, if the OID root values of the devices A (<b>310</b>), B (<b>320</b>), and C (<b>330</b>) are the same as the predefined value, e.g., 1, the manager <b>100</b> may create virtual objects for the devices A (<b>310</b>), B(<b>320</b>), and C(<b>330</b>), sequentially assign a plurality of consecutive serial numbers to the virtual objects, and replace the OID root values of the devices A (<b>310</b>), B (<b>320</b>), and C (<b>330</b>) with the serial numbers, thereby preventing the OIDs of the devices A (<b>310</b>), B (<b>320</b>), and C (<b>330</b>) from conflicting with one another after the expansion of the existing MIB.

The MIB information management unit <b>150</b> may process not only information regarding the structure of the existing MIB before extended but also information regarding the structure of the existing MIB after extended. Therefore, the administrator can identify the OID of the device to be managed according to the information provided by the MIB information management unit <b>150</b> and thus can access the MIB of the device to be managed.

A network management method using the network management apparatus according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention will now be described in detail.

<figref idrefs="DRAWINGS">FIG. 6</figref> is a flowchart illustrating a method of creating an OID for an MIB of a device to be managed according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, which is performed by the agent <b>200</b> of <figref idrefs="DRAWINGS">FIG. 3</figref>.

Referring to <figref idrefs="DRAWINGS">FIG. 6</figref>, in operation S<b>110</b>, the MIB management unit <b>210</b> creates an MIB of the device to be managed. In operation S<b>120</b>, the MIB management unit <b>210</b> sets an OID for the MIB of the device to be managed. The MIB management unit <b>210</b> may create the OID for the MIB of the device to be managed so that the root of the OID can be set to a predefined value, e.g., 1.

The OID root value of the device to be managed can be used by the manager <b>100</b> to determine whether to assign the OID of the device to be managed to a virtual object created for the device to be managed according to the OID root value of the device to be managed. If the manager <b>100</b> does not have the function to assign the OID of the device to be managed to the virtual object created for the device to be managed according to the OID root value of the device to be managed, the MIB management unit <b>210</b> may add an IP address of the device to be managed to the OID of the device to be managed, thereby enabling the manager <b>100</b> to identify the device to be managed according to the IP address included in the addition result.

Thereafter, in operation S<b>140</b>, if the device to be managed is determined in operation S<b>130</b> to be connected to a network, the control unit <b>220</b> announces that the device to be managed has been connected to the network and transmits the OID root value of the device to be managed to the manager <b>100</b>.

<figref idrefs="DRAWINGS">FIG. 7</figref> is a flowchart illustrating a method of adding an OID created using the method of <figref idrefs="DRAWINGS">FIG. 6</figref> to an existing MIB according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to <figref idrefs="DRAWINGS">FIG. 7</figref>, in operation S<b>210</b>, the device connection management unit <b>110</b> of the manager <b>100</b> receives an OID root value of the device to be managed from the control unit <b>220</b> of the agent <b>200</b>. In operation S<b>220</b>, it is determined whether to extend the existing MIB according to whether the OID root value is the same as a predefined value. In detail, if the OID root value is the same as the predefined value, it is determined to extend the existing MIB. Otherwise, it is determined not to extend the existing MIB. Here, the predefined value may be 1.

In operation S<b>230</b>, if the OID root value is determined in operation S<b>220</b> to be the same as the predefined value, the device connection management unit <b>110</b> controls the virtual MIB connection unit <b>140</b> to create an object ‘virtual’ in the existing MIB and to create a virtual object for the device to be managed under the object ‘virtual’. In operation S<b>240</b>, the device connection management connection unit <b>110</b> also controls the virtual MIB connection unit <b>140</b> to assign a serial number to the virtual object corresponding to the device to be managed according to a time in which the device to be managed has been connected to the network.

Thereafter, in operation S<b>250</b>, the device connection management unit <b>110</b> controls the MIB extraction unit <b>120</b> to extract an MIB of the device to be managed. The device connection management unit <b>110</b> may also extract the OID of the device to be managed when extracting the MIB of the device to be managed.

In operation S<b>260</b>, the MIB interpretation unit <b>130</b> determines whether the MIB of the device to be managed is valid according to presence or absence of values corresponding to data type information, name information, and description information of each of the objects of the MIB and the OID of the device to be managed.

In operation S<b>270</b>, if the MIB of the device to be managed is determined in operation S<b>260</b> to be valid, the virtual MIB connection unit <b>140</b> replaces the OID root value of the device to be managed with the serial number assigned to the virtual object corresponding to the device to be managed. In operation S<b>280</b>, the virtual MIB connection unit <b>140</b> redefines the OID for the device to be managed according to the replacement result obtained in operation S<b>270</b>.

In operation S<b>290</b>, the existing MIB is extended by attaching the MIB of the device to be managed to the existing MIB according to the redefined OID of the device to be managed, and information regarding the extended MIB is managed by the MIB information management unit <b>150</b>.

Therefore, the manager <b>100</b> can access any of a plurality of objects of the MIB of the device to be managed according to the information managed by the MIB information management unit <b>150</b>.

If the manager <b>100</b> does not have the function to assign a serial number to the virtual object created for the device to be managed according to the OID root value of the device to be managed, the agent <b>200</b> may add an IP address of the device to be managed to the OID of the device to be managed and transmit the addition result to the manager <b>100</b>.

Therefore, the manager can identify the device to be managed according to the IP address included in the addition result transmitted by the agent <b>100</b> and can extend the existing MIB according to the addition result transmitted by the agent <b>100</b>.

A network management apparatus and method of the present invention may provide the following advantages.

First, it is possible to dynamically extend an existing network management structure by connecting a device to a network with fewer modifications to an existing network management structure.

Second, a device connected to a network can be efficiently managed by obtaining an MIB of the device without previously knowing an MIB for each device connected to the network.

Third, it is possible to reduce overhead when managing a home network including a considerable number of devices of various types by enabling the devices to be differentiated from one another by their respective OIDs using a standard MIB.

In concluding the detailed description, those skilled in the art will appreciate that many variations and modifications can be made to the exemplary embodiments without substantially departing from the principles of the present invention. Therefore, the disclosed exemplary embodiments of the invention are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation.